Page 79 of The First Taste

Natasha rolls her eyes. “Yes. Though I do think that Lady Grayrose has quite the idea. Sending Isla to boarding school will be great for her. She’ll learn quickly that her tantrums and screaming fits do not fly when she’s not with her own family.”

I squint at her, not sure I heard her correctly. Maura’s ears prick up though, and she quickly turns to Natasha.

“I keep telling Keiran that exact thing. Our darling Saffron went off to Sacred Hearts Preparatory College when she was only eight. And look how wonderfully she turned out!”

“Oh! I didn’t realize Saffron went to boarding school,” I offer.

Maura looks down her nose at me. “Of course she did. Every one of my children went to boarding school. I spared absolutely no expense or fanfare on any of my children.”

She smirks at me. It’s hard to maintain my composure, but I do.

“And where is Saffron right now?” Natasha asks.

Lady Grayrose looks a bit taken aback. “I believe she’s at university.”

“She finished taking her exams last week, I think,” I comment. Screwing up my face, I pretend to think about it. “I could be wrong, but I think she mentioned that she would be moving into an apartment near her school for the summer.”

I just tossed it off casually, thinking that my knowing more than she did about her own daughter would make Lady Grayrose grumpy. But instead, all the color drains from her face.

“She what?!”

Her raised voice draws the attention of the men. Everyone looks at her and the other conversation dies off.

Lady Grayrose leans over, gripping my wrist and digging her fingernails into my skin painfully. “Saffron told you that she intends to get an apartment by herself this summer? This is the first I am hearing of it!”

Her eyes blaze bright blue, pinning me in place. I start to realize that I don’t know what kind of minefield I’m stepping into.

Is it too late to backpedal?

“I think so… but maybe I misheard her,” I say.

Lady Grayrose pushes her chair back and stands up, releasing my arm. “I have to go call my daughter and find out why she told someone who’s essentially the hired help that she’s renting an apartment in London. If you all will excuse me.”

I can feel the sting of her words as she lashes them at me. She hurries out of the dining room and I sink back in my chair.

Essentially the hired help. That’s how she sees me.

Natasha grins at me, her eyes mocking. She doesn’t say anything but she doesn’t have to. Everyone in here knows just what Lady Grayrose meant.

After Lady Grayrose’s departure, dinner breaks up. I stand up and start moving away from the table with the rest of the dinner party. Lord Grayrose looks at me, picking up a plate and offering it to me. I stare at it for a second before I realize that he thinks that I’m going to gather the plates and take them into the kitchen.

“No thanks,” I say, giving him a puzzled look. “I’m not here to clear plates.”

His answering frown tells me what he thinks about that answer. He puts down his plate and moves away without another word.

Jesus, is everybody in Keir’s family the absolute worst? I’m fuming. I need to go somewhere private to let my emotions out or I’m going to fly off the handle at the very next stuck up rich person that so much as looks in my direction.

Excusing myself from the dining room, I quickly walk through the hallways and toward the castle’s rear exit. I stop at a closed door just before the exit, a little mud room.

Inside, Lady is laying in an oversized bed, her puppies black and gray squirming balls of fur just beside her. She sits up and growls at me, letting me know that I’m invading her space.

I close the door behind me, put my hands over my mouth, and let out the scream that’s been building inside my chest since this morning. Putting my butt against the door, I lean down and let my feelings out. My hands muffle the sound a little as I feel tears welling up in my eyes.

Blinking back my tears, I have this distinct memory, as clear as day.

I was probably only six or seven, ending my first day of school. My father came to pick me up, and he found me crying. He picked me up, his tailored suit crushed under my weight. I cried into the shoulder of his jacket.

I will always remember the feeling of starchy navy wool against my face, tender from crying.